The UK's top scientific advisors have only met twice in the last three months, it was revealed today amid fears a fourth Covid wave is just around the corner.
SAGE, which has guided the Government through the Covid pandemic, last met on October 15.
The October meeting was the second in as many months, with the influential panel last coming together before that on September 9.
The group — which includes England's chief medical officer professor Chris Whitty, Government chief scientific adviser, Sir Patrick Vallance, and 'Professor Lockdown' Neil Ferguson, among others, didn't meet in August at all.
Chief medical officer for England Professor Chris Whitty (left) and the Government's chief scientific adviser Sir Patrick Vallance (middle) are two of the highest profile members of Sage which provides prime minister Boris Johnson (right) scientific advice on how best to handle the Covid pandemic. The group has only met twice in the last three months as cases and deaths from the virus begin to rise to levels not seen since the second wave
Labour today claimed it 'beggars belief' as to why Sage was 'effectively stood down', with cases having soared to a three-month high of around 45,000.
There were 223 recorded deaths from the virus in the UK yesterday, the highest total since March, a month in which Sage met three times alone.
And there are concerns about the rise of a new Delta variant of the virus in the UK. The variant called AY.4.2, could be up to 10 to 15 per cent more infectious than its ancestor.
This, combined with a slow rollout of the Covid booster programme, with nearly 5million vulnerable adults yet to receive theirs, indicates there may be some dire weeks to come in Britain's fight against Covid.
SAGE meetings have diminished in frequency since February, when the second wave was just starting to fizzle out. Since then the group has mostly met thrice or twice a month but August this year was the first time the group did not meet at all since the pandemic began.
In comparison, SAGE met four times in August 2020, six times in September 2020, and five times in October last year as the country headed into the colder months and the onset of the second wave of the virus.
It contains some of the UK's leading epidemiologists, virologists and other health experts, with meetings also regularly attended by government officials.
At meetings they analyse the latest trends of how Covid has been spreading in the UK, and the latest research into the virus and how it can be contained and treated.
MailOnline contacted SAGE for comment on the infrequency of meetings in the last few months.
Whitehall sources told the i that the 'meeting rhythm' of Sage was determined by a combination of 'government demand for scientific advice on particular issues' and of the 'emergence of new evidence'.
